NASA acknowledged on Wednesday that there were “tensions” during recent meetings with Boeing officials over how to bring back two astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS) due to faults in the American aerospace giant’s Starliner capsule.
The American space agency, however, denied press reports that shouting had punctuated these meetings.
NASA announced at the end of August that it would now be Boeing’s competitor, SpaceX, which would be responsible for bringing Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams back to Earth.
The serial difficulties encountered on the Starliner led to this heavy decision not to use this ship for the return mission. A snub for Boeing, already bogged down by repeated setbacks on its airliners.
The two astronauts were supposed to spend eight days in space, but will ultimately stay there for at least eight months, until February 2025 and SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission.
Boeing has publicly stated on several occasions that it is confident in the safety of its ship.
The absence of group leaders from recent NASA press conferences had fuelled speculation that there were differences with the space agency.
According to the New York Post, citing sources familiar with the matter, recent meetings between senior officials from both sides have often ended in shouting matches.
– “Uncertainty” –
NASA’s commercial human spaceflight program manager, Steve Stich, said he would not describe the meetings as heated, but that they included “tense technical discussions.”
“Any time you’re in a meeting of this importance, where there’s this kind of decision (to be made), there’s a certain amount of tension in the room,” he said.
According to him, despite the certainty displayed by Boeing on their projections, the NASA team “was not comfortable” to proceed, “because of the uncertainty around the model”.
Starliner is due to detach from the ISS shortly after 2200 GMT on Friday before beginning its uncrewed descent and landing in the western United States on Saturday morning.
Ten years ago, NASA ordered a new ship from Boeing and SpaceX each to transport its astronauts to the ISS. With two vehicles, it wants to not be left without a solution in the event of a problem on one or the other.
But Elon Musk’s company has largely beaten Boeing and has been acting alone as the American space taxi for four years now.
This first crewed flight of Starliner, carried out years late due to setbacks during its development, was to be the last test before beginning regular operations.
Despite the months-long extension of their stay in space, Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams are keeping their spirits up and staying in touch with their loved ones, according to NASA. They are no longer dependent on clothing loaned to them by their comrades aboard the ISS, since a resupply mission has provided them with clothing that better fits their physical appearance.
ia/rle/aem
